Color Coding
by phoenix1800
Summary: Hunter has an issue. Cam gets to deal with it. Light HunterCam slash, nonexplicit.


I don't own Power Rangers or any of the characters, I just like to mess with them.

Summary: Hunter's got an issue, and Cam gets to deal with it. Light Hunter/Cam slash, set a few days after Thunder Storm part 2 (in the Dino Thunder season, so SPD and Mystic Force haven't happened yet).

Author's note: If there are any discrepancies in this story, please let me know and I'll fix them. Right now I think my information is correct, but as I have no one to proofread this but myself, I could be wrong. And for the life of me, I can't get this thing to format correctly.

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Color Coding

Hunter arrived on the Wind Academy campus and looked around with interest. Black-clad ninjas were hard at work fixing the damage Tori, Dustin, and Shane had done while under Lothor's control.

"It's not nearly as bad as it looks, thankfully," came a familiar and much-welcomed voice from behind him. "They didn't get to the main buildings. Just the training grounds."

Hunter turned around and greeted Cam with a smile. "Where are the others?" he asked, glancing around before pulling Cam into an altogether too-short hug.

"They're feeling extremely guilty and working overtime to fix the grounds up," replied Cam dryly, sighing. "There's still a lot more to be done, though…the Academy wasn't the only thing damaged by Lothor's return."

"The students?" asked Hunter, taking an educated guess.

Cam nodded, crossing his arms as he surveyed the construction. "They're still pretty shaken up," he replied. "They didn't realize just how powerful their teachers were. They knew we were rangers, but…they had never seen us in action, especially on the bad guys' side."

"They'll be okay, eventually," said Hunter decisively. "I mean, Dustin, Shane, and Tori _did_ save the students in the end, once we got them back to normal."

"Technically, Marah and Kapri saved the students," corrected Cam, rolling his eyes. "I still can't figure out if they're really smart and pretending to be dumb, or if they're just lucky."

"Probably both," said Hunter, smirking.

"So what brings you here?" asked Cam, as they began walking toward the main campus.

"I can't just visit my boyfriend?" Hunter asked innocently. "I mean, before this whole thing happened, I hadn't seen you in a couple weeks."

It was true; Cam admitted inwardly. He and Hunter didn't have much spare time to visit as head teachers. But still, something was up. He set his gaze unflinchingly on Hunter.

Hunter caved under his stare. "Geez, do you use that look on your students?" he asked, wincing. "It's pretty effective."

"Maybe I'll start," replied Cam dryly. "Seriously, though, what's up? How did you know I was free?" The former Wind rangers felt so guilty that they were pretty much doing all his work for him. All he was really doing was supervising, and that didn't take much effort at all. His father had actually suggested taking the day off.

"I didn't really know," admitted Hunter. "I was just hoping I could borrow the video of ranger history that you got from Dr. Oliver." Cam had been curious about other generations of rangers and Dr. Oliver had offered to give him a copy of the information he had.

Cam studied him, a little puzzled. "Um, sure," he replied. "It's on the computer in Ops; I can burn it for you."

"I'm free for the day, actually," Hunter told him. "Is it cool if I just watch it down there?"

"Sure," answered Cam. "Come on."

He took Hunter around the training fields and behind the building that housed the offices, pulling up a trapdoor and walking down the stairs.

"This is the entrance from on-campus. It's what we used before the waterfall portal," Cam explained, knowing that Hunter had never been to Ops this way. He had extended Ninja Ops so it ran right under the office building, and there was an entrance in there too, but this was faster.

Hunter had been in Ninja Ops once or twice during its reconstruction, right after Lothor had been cast into the Abyss of Evil, but his focus then had usually been distracting Cam from his work. Now he looked around at the finished deal, appreciating the new technology and expanded space that Cam had obviously worked hard to build.

Cam accessed the computer and lowered a projection screen from the ceiling, starting the information and dimming the lights. Hunter was surprised and pleased when the samurai settled down next to him on a chair.

Cam glanced at him and shrugged. "I haven't gotten to watch it all the way through yet," he explained simply.

Hunter watched the video in silence, which surprised Cam. He had watched movies with Hunter before, and usually there was at least some kind of commentary from the thunder ninja. And Hunter had his brooding look on, which kind of worried him. Brooding Hunter hadn't made an appearance in a long time—well, barring Lothor's return.

He turned his attention to the screen just as it switched from the Zeo rangers to the Turbo rangers. This was where he'd stopped watching. He had known that they weren't the only rangers, but he hadn't realized that there were quite so many. Why had Hunter wanted to watch this?

They watched all the way up to their own generation in silence and then Hunter nodded at him to pause it. They didn't need to be told about themselves.

Cam restored the lights and studied Hunter pensively, wondering what his boyfriend had wanted to see.

Finally, Hunter sighed and leaned back in his chair. "That sucks," he muttered.

Cam arched an eyebrow, confused. "What sucks?" he questioned.

"Of all the colors out there, I'm pretty much the only one that doesn't fit," said Hunter, frowning. "I mean, I was crimson. Not red, sure as hell not pink…crimson. There's never been a crimson ranger before me. It's weird."

Cam frowned too. "What does it matter?" he asked.

"All the others fit in," replied Hunter. "There's always been a red ranger, so Shane's in. I mean, did you see that footage of the moon and the destruction of Serpentera? Every generation's had a red ranger, even two. And there have been lots of yellow rangers, even if Dustin's the only male one. Tori and Blake can both pass as blue rangers, and there were plenty of green rangers like you." He paused, gave Cam a slight smirk, and amended, "Well, not exactly like you. But still. Crimson?"

"What about the silver ranger…Zhane?" questioned Cam.

"Titanium ranger, Ryan," countered Hunter. "Same color, different name. And that sixth Wildforce ranger could be grouped with them too."

"The Phantom ranger?" asked Cam.

"Technically an auxiliary ranger," replied Hunter. "Like the Blue Centurion. Besides, his uniform was black."

"The gold Zeo ranger?" tried Cam.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Dr. Oliver might as well call himself a gold ranger then, for all their uniforms look alike," he retorted.

Cam was exhausting his resources. The Magna Defender's uniform was black; there were a bunch of white rangers…

"Why does it matter?" he asked again, a little exasperated. "Hunter, a color is just a color. You were a good ranger, and that's what counts."

"I know I was a good ranger," said Hunter, sighing. "But it _does_ matter. I mean, look at the red rangers. They're like their own club! And don't tell me that you aren't interested in learning about the other green rangers."

"But the red rangers would be long gone if it weren't for their teammates," pointed out Cam, not denying it. "Come on, do you think Shane could've defeated Lothor without the rest of us? Do you think Connor is going to defeat Mesagog all by himself? It's about the team, not the individuals."

Hunter still looked unconvinced, and Cam knew that fitting in was a touchy issue for him. Sighing, he forced himself to swallow his pride and his aversion to effusive displays.

"Look…it wouldn't have mattered to me if you _were_ a pink ranger," he told the blond honestly. "You were powerful in your own right, and there was a first time for _every_ color, Hunter. So you're only crimson ranger thus far--you were a pretty damn good crimson ranger. Besides, like _you_ said, it's not like I'm exactly like the other green rangers just because I shared a color with them. I don't even know if I'd have anything in common with them. The red rangers tend to be the leaders of the team, and I think that's why they have a cohesive mindset."

As a second thought he added, "You actually have things in common with them, you know. Crimson _is_ a variant on red. You were the leader when it came to you and Blake, and you _chose_ to follow Shane. And even then…still a team. We still made decisions as a group."

Hunter studied him for a few moments, and then finally started to snicker.

"What?" demanded Cam, frowning at him.

"The idea of a gay man as a pink ranger," said Hunter between snickers. "God, what would be next, the rainbow ranger?"

Cam rolled his eyes. "It figures that you'd latch onto _that_, out of everything I said," he muttered, suppressing the urge to hit his boyfriend upside the head. "So are you done freaking out?"

"I wasn't freaking out," protested Hunter, now relaxed. "I was just…feeling kind of alienated. No pun intended."

Cam gave him a wry look. "You wore the colored spandex and fought the ridiculous-looking monsters, didn't you?" he replied. "You're one of us."

"Yeah," replied Hunter, looking at the frozen picture of their team on the screen and smiling. "Yeah, I guess I am."

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More Author's Notes:

I know that Jen was technically leading the Time Force team too, but Wes kind of took over in the end. And I really didn't like the Forever Red episode, because I thought it kind of overshadowed the importance of the team—though I did like seeing rangers from multiple generations fighting together.

I am also aware that SPD had a bunch of different-colored rangers, but like I mentioned at the beginning, this is before that season, so they don't exist right now.


End file.
